


pet project

by mothwrites



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon, SI-5, kepcobi if you squint, set after TTBOT but before they became partners
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 14:23:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10788498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mothwrites/pseuds/mothwrites
Summary: Daniel Jacobi didn't go straight from "icy booze" to "administrative officer and good right-hand", but he always knew he was going to.





	pet project

Major Kepler paused in the doorway of the corridor he’d been walking down as he spotted a familiar face – or, a familiar mop of red hair and oversized goggles – look up and motion for him to come over. He checked his watch, shrugged slightly, and stepped over the threshold in to the ballistics wing of the R&D lab.

“Mr Jacobi,” he said pleasantly as he reached the desk. “What can I do for you?”

 Jacobi slipped off his goggles, revealing a clear expanse of tanned and freckled skin in contrast to the slight sootiness of the rest of his face, and passed him a file. “More like what I can do for _you_ , Major.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” He picked up the folder and leafed through the reports within. “Oh, for me? You shouldn’t have.”

“Just a prototype,” Jacobi replied, obviously pleased, “but a good one. You’ll get it first. Do me a favour, though? Set it off yourself, when you need it. Not to speak ill of your current administrative officer, but – “

“By all means,” Kepler interrupted him, still reading. “Speak ill. You’d be… entirely justified.” He closed the folder with a snap, and laid it back on the desk.

Jacobi watched him sympathetically. “Again?”

“I think I work better alone,” Kepler said in lieu of a real answer. He checked his watch. “I’d love to chat, but I have a meeting in five minutes. This is good work, Mr Jacobi. Keep it up.”

“Is the meeting about finding a new second-in-command?” Jacobi asked, uncommonly outspoken. The two of them enjoyed a casual rapport; they were in different departments, but working the occasional mission together had taken what was once an unfriendly bar conversation between strangers into a decent partnership. That didn’t mean he was used to questioning his superior.

Kepler regarded Jacobi with interest. He’d had his eye on the man for a while; his ‘pet project’, as Mr Cutter liked to refer to him. He had potential. That didn’t mean he was ready.

“Why? Something you want to ask me, Mr Jacobi?”

Jacobi smiled. Something in his expression changed, as if Kepler had held a match to his fuse. “Permission to speak freely, sir?”

“Doesn’t really apply, in this context,” Kepler said, amused. “But sure. Hit me.”

“You wanna know the real reason you can’t keep a partner for more than a month?”

Kepler crossed his arms, and leaned back on the desk, casually invading Jacobi’s personal space. Sat cross-legged on the desk chair, Jacobi was only a few centimetres from his side. “Well?”

“They’re _boring_.”

Surprised, Kepler let out a bark of laughter. “Careful,” he said. “They all outrank you. The ones who are still alive, anyway.”

“They outrank me,” Jacobi agreed. “And they’re boring. You didn’t really _like_ any of them.”

Kepler shrugged. “So what?” he asked. “They were good at their jobs, mostly. I don’t have to like the people I work with.”

“They were good at their jobs, but they didn’t _like_ doing it,” Jacobi explained. “Not the way you do.” His resolve flickered, just for a second, before deciding that he was already in this conversation and damned if he wasn’t going to finish it. He leaned forward in his chair, elbows resting on his knees. “Sir, I’ve wanted to be your partner since the second mission we worked together.”

“Not the one where I locked you in a room with a bomb? I’m shocked,” Kepler commented dryly, but motioned at him to go on.

“God, no, I hated you for that one. The second one – after all that _carnage_ with security, and there was that woman who said – “ Jacobi put on a voice of mock horror - “’ _you’re a monster!’_ And you just smiled, and said: ‘yep’ _._ ” He smiled himself, a faint echo of Kelper’s manic grin on the evening in question, and one that Kepler _knew_ Jacobi could match perfectly in the right circumstances. “Everyone else here pretends to have a conscience. But you _like_ being a monster. You need someone who can keep up with that.”

Kepler took this in, already more than a little impressed with how well his relatively green ‘pet project’ already knew him. “And you think that’s you?”

Jacobi shrugged. “Well, why not me?”

“Because you’re not remotely qualified?” Kepler countered. “You’re a damn fine engineer, Jacobi, but – “

“A damn fine engineer with enough missions under his belt to at least be _considered,_ ” Jacobi interrupted. “Most of which were with you, might I add. All of which I’m pretty sure you enjoyed. So, yeah,” Jacobi continued. “I might not be the most _qualified_ person you’re considering; but my _God,_ we’d have fun.”

“Who said I was considering you?” Kepler said immediately, despite how the sentiment had made him smile.

Not breaking the eye contact between them, Jacobi replied: “You’re late for your meeting.”

“Huh?” His gaze flickered to the clock on the wall opposite. “Oh, God damn it.” Kepler rose to his feet, gathering up the files from the desk, and tried not to think about the implications of how distracted he’d been. “Get that smirk off your face, Mr Jacobi.”

“Of course, sir,” Jacobi said, schooling his face back into a ready-and-waiting expression, although a hint of amusement still lingered in his eyes.

Kepler would have to train that out of him. He found himself… _relishing_ the prospect.

“Request a transfer,” he said, turning on his heel at the doorway as he left.

“Is that a yes?” Jacobi called after him.

Kepler allowed himself another few seconds to look at him. Red hair and long, soot-stained fingers and that _wit._ It was tempting.

_My God; we’d have fun._

“We’ll see.”


End file.
